Zámek Paskov Chateau

Paskov is located in the Moravian-Silesian region, and its castle was once the seat of the Paskov estate. This early Baroque building was created in the seventeenth century through the reconstruction of an older fortified tower. Today it houses a regional museum.

The first written mention of Paskov comes from the year 1267, from a deed of the Olomouc bishop Bruno ze Schauenberku. For several centuries, Paskov was a fief of the Olomouc bishopric. It was gradually held by, for example, the Černohorští z Boskovic family, the Žerotínové, or the Pernštejnové. The tower itself is first mentioned in the year 1484, in connection with a dispute over the fief. In 1530, bishop Stanislav Thurzo released Paskov from the feudal bond, and the estate became the hereditary property of Jan z Pernštejna.

From 1577 to 1579, Paskov belonged to the Silesian humanist, scholar, and diplomat Ondřej Dudič z Hořehovice. He lived there permanently and turned the tower into a center of his social contacts. After two years, however, he sold the estate to Ctibor Syrakovský z Pěrkova, a long-time highest land scribe in Moravia. At the end of the sixteenth century, Syrakovský had the tower expanded. This is recalled by his family coat of arms with initials, preserved on a stone lintel, which is now bricked into the castle.

Further owners professed non-Catholic beliefs and supported the estates' rebellion. The last of them, Anna Cedlarová z Hofu, lost her property during the post-White Mountain confiscations. In 1624, Václav Bruntálský z Vrbna acquired Paskov. His era was marked by recatholicization, the oppression of subjects, and the Thirty Years' War. At the turn of the twenties and thirties of the seventeenth century, he began to convert the tower into an early Baroque castle with elements of lingering Renaissance style. A single-story, four-wing building with an enclosed courtyard was created. From part of the former fortifications, a forecourt with an entrance tower and corner bastions was made. By the end of the war, passing troops had damaged the castle. After her husband's death, his widow Alžběta therefore initiated further renovations, mainly to improve the fortifications.

The castle's owners changed hands several more times. The castle's appearance was fundamentally transformed only at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by the counts of Stolberg, the last private owners. In the second half of the twentieth century, the castle served as a healthcare facility. In 2013, the town of Paskov acquired it, and after reconstruction, a museum has operated there since 2018. The castle grounds have been a cultural monument since 1958.